BGuthrie Photos: VA -- Richmond -- Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC) -- The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, & Murals (Four Seasons of the Confederacy Mural)

VA -- Richmond -- Virginia Museum of History and Culture (VMHC) -- The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, & Murals (Four Seasons of the Confederacy Mural):

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Recognize anyone? If you recognize specific folks (or other stuff) and I haven't labeled them, please identify them for the world. Click the little pencil icon

underneath the file name (just above the picture). Spammers need not apply.

Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

Spiders: The system has identified your IP as being a spider. I love well-behaved spiders! They are, in fact, how most people find my site. Unfortunately, my network has a limited bandwidth and pictures take up bandwidth. Spiders ask for lots and lots of pages and chew up lots and lots of bandwidth which slows things down considerably for regular folk. To counter this, you'll see all the text on the page but the images are being suppressed. Also, a number of options like merges are being blocked for you. Note: Permission is NOT granted for spiders, robots, etc to use the site for AI-generation purposes. I'm excited for your ability to make revenue from my work but there's nothing in that for my human users or for me. If you are in fact human, please email me at guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can check if your designation was made in error. Given your number of hits, that's unlikely but what the hell.

Help? The Medium (Email) links are for screen viewing and emailing. You'll want bigger sizes for printing. [Click here for additional help]

[1] VHS4SE_220515_001_STITCH.JPG

[2] VHS4SE_220515_006.JPG	[3] VHS4SE_220515_008.JPG	[4] VHS4SE_220515_011.JPG
[5] VHS4SE_220515_013.JPG	[6] VHS4SE_220515_016.JPG	[7] VHS4SE_220515_020.JPG
[8] VHS4SE_220515_022.JPG	[9] VHS4SE_220515_025.JPG	[10] VHS4SE_220515_029.JPG
[11] VHS4SE_220515_034.JPG	[12] VHS4SE_220515_036.JPG	[13] VHS4SE_220515_039.JPG
[14] VHS4SE_220515_042.JPG	[15] VHS4SE_220515_046.JPG	[16] VHS4SE_220515_048.JPG
[17] VHS4SE_220515_050.JPG	[18] VHS4SE_220515_053.JPG	[19] VHS4SE_220515_055.JPG
[20] VHS4SE_220515_058.JPG	[21] VHS4SE_220515_062.JPG	[22] VHS4SE_220515_066.JPG
[23] VHS4SE_220515_070.JPG	[24] VHS4SE_220515_076.JPG	[25] VHS4SE_220515_079.JPG
[26] VHS4SE_220515_082.JPG	[27] VHS4SE_220515_086.JPG	[28] VHS4SE_220515_088.JPG
[29] VHS4SE_220515_091.JPG	[30] VHS4SE_220515_094.JPG	[31] VHS4SE_220515_098.JPG
[32] VHS4SE_220515_101.JPG	[33] VHS4SE_220515_105.JPG	[34] VHS4SE_220515_110.JPG
[35] VHS4SE_220515_112.JPG	[36] VHS4SE_220515_115.JPG	[37] VHS4SE_220515_119.JPG
[38] VHS4SE_220515_124.JPG	[39] VHS4SE_220515_127.JPG	[40] VHS4SE_220515_130.JPG
[41] VHS4SE_220515_132.JPG	[42] VHS4SE_220515_135.JPG	[43] VHS4SE_220515_138.JPG
[44] VHS4SE_220515_141.JPG	[45] VHS4SE_220515_142.JPG	[46] VHS4SE_220515_146.JPG
[47] VHS4SE_220515_148.JPG	[48] VHS4SE_220515_150.JPG	[49] VHS4SE_220515_153.JPG
[50] VHS4SE_220515_156.JPG	[51] VHS4SE_220515_159.JPG	[52] VHS4SE_220515_162.JPG
[53] VHS4SE_220515_166.JPG	[54] VHS4SE_220515_169.JPG	[55] VHS4SE_220515_171.JPG
[56] VHS4SE_220515_173.JPG	[57] VHS4SE_220515_175.JPG	[58] VHS4SE_220515_180.JPG
[59] VHS4SE_220515_183.JPG	[60] VHS4SE_220515_189.JPG	[61] VHS4SE_220515_191.JPG
[62] VHS4SE_220515_194.JPG	[63] VHS4SE_220515_196.JPG	[64] VHS4SE_220515_206.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. VHS4SE_220515_006.JPG: The Lost Cause Myths, Monuments, & Murals The Lost Cause was a widespread effort by former Confederates after the American Civil War (1861–1865) to justify and glorify the Confederacy. ... The Lost Cause manifested in different ways over many generations—from history textbooks to street names to various forms of memorialization. As with most of their counterparts, the monument and murals displayed in this gallery, as well as the gallery itself, tell us more about the intentions and values of the people who created them than about the historical subjects they depict.
2. VHS4SE_220515_008.JPG: The Lost Cause of the Confederacy
3. VHS4SE_220515_011.JPG: A Spirited Defense
4. VHS4SE_220515_013.JPG: Reject a text-book that does not give the principles for which the South fought in 1861, and does not clearly outline the interferences with the rights guaranteed to the South by the Constitution, and which caused secession. Reject a book that calls the Confederate soldier a traitor or rebel, and the war a rebellion. Reject a book that says the South fought to hold her slaves. ...
5. VHS4SE_220515_025.JPG: Battle Abbey & The Memorial Military Murals
6. VHS4SE_220515_036.JPG: Infantry (Spring) Mural
7. VHS4SE_220515_039.JPG: The Artist
8. VHS4SE_220515_046.JPG: A Changing Confederate Compound
9. VHS4SE_220515_055.JPG: A Multi-Generational Movement
10. VHS4SE_220515_058.JPG: Timeline of Confederate Symbols Dedicated across the United States, 1861-2021
11. VHS4SE_220515_062.JPG: Timeline of Confederate Symbols Dedicated across the United States, 1861-2021
12. VHS4SE_220515_070.JPG: Confederate symbols include monuments; names of schools, streets, and public buildings; and other memorials. This chart does not include the approximately 1,250 symbols for which the dedication dates are unknown.
13. VHS4SE_220515_076.JPG: Lee and His Generals (Summer) Mural
14. VHS4SE_220515_079.JPG: Confederate Symbols in Each State, 1861-2021 Number erected / Number removed
15. VHS4SE_220515_086.JPG: A Cause for All Seasons
16. VHS4SE_220515_091.JPG: "In times such as these, we timid, baffled little men need to rally behind those of our national heroes who, in times of vaster difficulty, were sure of themselves." -- Douglas Southall Freeman, author and Lee biographer, 1936
17. VHS4SE_220515_094.JPG: Other Voices By the early 1900s, Southern states had effectively silenced Black political voices through various voter suppression efforts. Although Black people did not have a say in civic government and in who got memorialized in public monuments, they did commemorate the Civil War within their own communities. For example, they held Emancipation Day parades celebrating the end of slavery and Memorial Day tributes to the nearly 200,000 Black men who fought in the US military.
18. VHS4SE_220515_112.JPG: New Battlegrounds
19. VHS4SE_220515_115.JPG: [Black people were] "threatening government by NAACP in Virginia by the cold steel of the bayonet, and we will have none of it." -- Virginia governor J. Lindsay Almond, 1958
20. VHS4SE_220515_119.JPG: Another Merrimac and Monitor, published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, September 2, 1958 Fred Seibel This political cartoon aptly characterized Virginia's Massive Resistance to school desegregation as a rematch of the famous Civil War battle between two ironclad ships.
21. VHS4SE_220515_124.JPG: Protest against school integration in Montgomery, Alabama, 1963
22. VHS4SE_220515_130.JPG: Cavalry (Autumn) Mural
23. VHS4SE_220515_132.JPG: Institutional Change
24. VHS4SE_220515_146.JPG: Embattled State
25. VHS4SE_220515_148.JPG: Artillery (Winter) Mural
26. VHS4SE_220515_150.JPG: Removal of Robert E Lee Monument, 2021 The Lee Monument on Richmond's Monument Avenue was removed on September 8, 2021. During the summer of 2020, this site was a gathering place for community conversation and social justice activism.
27. VHS4SE_220515_156.JPG: A Confederate in the US Capitol
28. VHS4SE_220515_159.JPG: Statuary Hall in the US Capital, 1932 Virginia's statues of Washington and Lee are right of center. Over time, the placement and subject of the sculptures in the Capitol have changed.
29. VHS4SE_220515_162.JPG: Jefferson Davis Monument, erected on Monument Avenue in Richmond, 1907 Valentine sculpted the figure of Confederate president Davis, which protestors tore down in the summer of 2020.
30. VHS4SE_220515_169.JPG: Opposing Views
31. VHS4SE_220515_173.JPG: Commemoration of the anniversary of Lee's birthday in the US Capitol Statuary Hall, about 1920
32. VHS4SE_220515_180.JPG: Shifting Grounds
33. VHS4SE_220515_183.JPG: Replacing Lee
34. VHS4SE_220515_194.JPG: Statue Robert E Lee (1807-1870), 1909 Edward V. Valentine In 1909, Virginia sent this bronze sculpture of Confederate general Robert E. Lee to the US Capitol as one of two statues -- along with George Washington -- representing the Commonwealth in National Statuary Hall. Lee was removed in 2020 and given to the VMHC for preservation.
35. VHS4SE_220515_196.JPG: Shifting Grounds
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Description of Subject Matter: Version through 2021:
Four Seasons of the Confederacy: Murals by Charles Hoffbauer
French mural artist Charles Hoffbauer was commissioned by the Confederate Memorial Association in 1914 to paint a series of Civil War murals for the newly constructed Battle Abbey. With the outbreak of World War I, he interrupted his labors and returned to France, leaving his project half completed. He came back after the war only to obliterate his earlier work, explaining that his front-line experiences had radically changed his view of war. The murals were unveiled in January 1921. Today, his work stands untouched. The murals follow the changing seasons and include the Spring Mural, the Summer Mural, the Autumn Mural, and the Winter Mural.
* The Spring Mural depicts Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson reviewing his troops in the Shenandoah Valley.
* The Summer Mural portrays a fictitious gathering of Confederate commanders.
* The Autumn Mural shows J. E. B. Stuart leading his cavalrymen on a foray through Virginia woods.
* The Winter Mural illustrates the misery of an artillery battery in retreat through the snow, its equipment shattered, its men on the verge of exhaustion.

Version Effective in 2022:
The Lost Cause: Myths, Monuments, & Murals
From May 14, 2022
This exhibition explores the history of the Lost Cause as expressed through a cycle of military murals and a sculpture of Robert E. Lee previously on view at the U.S. Capitol.
Square feet: 1,547
Number of artifacts: 4 murals, 1 sculpture
About the Exhibition: The Lost Cause was a widespread effort by former Confederates after the American Civil War (1861–1865) to justify and glorify the Confederacy. The Lost Cause manifested in different ways over many generations—from history textbooks to street names to various forms of memorialization. As with most of their counterparts, the monument and murals displayed in this gallery, as well as the gallery itself, tell us more about the intentions and values of the people who created them than about the historical subjects they depict.
About the Artifacts:
* Commissioned by the Confederate Memorial Association and executed by Charles Hoffbauer, the Confederate Memorial Military Murals were unveiled at the Confederate Memorial Institute in 1921. The Virginia Historical Society acquired them when it acquired the CMA in 1946 as its new home. The murals have remained on exhibit in the south wing of the former CMI building until the present time.
* The Edward Valentine sculpture of Lee stood as one of Virginia’s entries in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol from 1909 until 2020, when it was given to the VMHC by the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
Connection Not Secure messages? Those warnings you get from your browser about this site not having secure connections worry some people. This means this site does not have SSL installed (the link is http:, not https:). That's bad if you're entering credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal information. But this site doesn't collect any personal information so SSL is not necessary. Life's good!
Photo Contact: [Email Bruce Guthrie].